Poetry
Three Poems
By Corrado Govoni
translated by Paula Bohince
Piove
Piove sul mare verde.
Piove sull’Ave maria
che suonano quei monti laggiù in fondo
come dolcissime campane azzurre.
Piove sull’ odore stellato dei gelsomini
che fioriscono contro il muro rosastro d’un orto.
Piove sulle ghirlande marce del cimitero.
Piove sull’ombrello del mendicante
e sulla sua triste elemosina.
Piove sull’ organetto rosso del vagabondo
piangente macchina fotografica
che non è mai pronta per far la fotografia;
tutti si stancano e la mandan via.
Piove sulla primavera
e sull’anima mia rugosa e nera.
It’s Raining
It rains on the green sea.
It’s raining on Ave Maria
ringing through yonder mountains
like sweet blue bells.
It rains on the starry smell of jasmine
blooming against the garden’s blushing wall.
Rains on the cemetery’s rotten garlands.
Rains on the beggar’s umbrella
and on his sad handouts.
It rains on the tramp’s red accordion,
a crying camera
never ready for pictures.
Everyone gets tired and sends it away.
It’s raining on spring
and on my rough, charred soul.
Le campane del mezzogiorno
Angeli d’oro con martelli d’oro
battono sopra incudini di sole.
The Noon Bells
Golden angels with golden hammers
striking without warning the sun’s anvils.
Il malato e il mare
Il un piccolo albergo a Bordighera
ch’ è la verde stazione della primavera,
capostazione rosso il sole,
treni di fiore, ferrovieri i venti,
guarda dai vetri un pallido malato.
Ascolta come in sogno il mare
come un poveo sotto le finestre
nel suo cappotto azzurro da soldato
che mormora la sua raura preghiera.
The Sick and the Sea
In a small hotel in Bordighera—
which is spring’s train station,
the sun its station master,
trains made of flowers and workers of winds—
a pale, sick figure stares from a window.
Listen to the dreaming sea,
which is like a poor man under the windows
in his blue soldier’s coat,
murmuring his hoarse prayer.
Corrado Govoni (1884–1965), a leader in the Italian poetry movement of Crepuscularism, was a contributor to Futurism and wrote novels, stories, and plays.
Paula Bohince has published three poetry collections and received a 2022 NEA Fellowship and 2021 Raiziss/de Palchi Fellowship for her translations of Govoni.
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